postaday

Entertained

cropped-flowers42008-0031.jpg

Something my maternal grandfather said once made an impression on me. I’m not even sure why it impressed me at the time. I’m going to guess I was somewhere in my tweens, though I could have been younger. He said young people have to be constantly entertained, or something to that effect. I suppose I could have shrugged it off as one of those statements “old people” make. You know, like, “When I was a child, I had three rocks to play with; and I was lucky, the kid down the street only had two!” But over the years I’ve given what he said some consideration. Why is it that we have to be busy doing something all of the time? I think we all know people who have to spend almost every waking moment involved in some activity: video games, TV, etc. If we say we’re Christians, how much time does God get? Does He get dibs on our day? Does he get the leftovers? In the long run, in our search for entertainment, are we settling for a second rate life?

God, why do I seem
always to be dancing
away from the dream.
The dream of a relationship
with you
that’s more than an extra
15 or 20 minutes
when I can fit You in.
The world tries to sell
me a life that’s
more “As seen on TV”
than
hand crafted.
And as usual,
I get what I pay for.
Help me to give less of me to that,
and more of me to You.
I don’t believe You
ever intended our lives to be
filled with drudgery.
I just think we’ve been suckered into
buying what life is not.
Show us what life is, God.
Show me.

Membership

Membership has its privileges,
so the advert. said. But its so easy to forget
the grace given by the one who bled
should be foremost in our hearts,
and not just in our heads.

Nomad Life Cycle Bust

DSCN0885
I
wander
if nomads are peaceful?
Or do they defy
their name?
Is their life cycle
the typical boom or bust type
as new frontiers they tame?
Do they consider a home not a thing to be sought,
or do they carry it with?
Although certainly roots could be entangling,
I’ve difficulty believing it bliss.
Perhaps the bug has not sought me.
I’ve never felt its bite.
For now with my family
I much prefer home
to the nomad’s wandering life.

© Joel Tipple

The Writer

cropped-family0510-035.jpg

The Writer:

Like a fat bird on a skinny branch, the story idea held a tenuous grasp on my mind. One big bounce, a winged maelstrom, and it was gone. “Think think think.” I tapped my forehead three times in beat with the word. “What was that about? Oh! I remember…”

The Story:

Mary woke suddenly to three loud knocks on her apartment door.
“Coming!” Her lips felt puffy as the words were squeezed out of her toothpaste-tube-mouth. She swung her legs over the side of the bed into what she thought were her slippers, shuffled to the door, and opened it to Jessica, whose eyes darted between Mary’s face and feet. “Are those comfortable?” Jessica asked, a note of concern in her voice. “Oh,’ Mary said, “I’ve got his shoes.” Jessica chuckled, and as out of it as Mary was, she got the joke. “No, smarty pants. Not ‘issues,’ HIS shoes.” Jessica smiled and shook her head slowly. “Sweetie, you’ve got both. Let’s get you dressed and we’ll go get some coffee.”

To be continued

© Joel Tipple

Do Write

DSCN1026

Writing out your thoughts
can make them stand up;
letters possessed of value
or ideas that need to be mucked.
Sometimes those notions
flitting through your nogin late at night,
are best allowed to continue their flit,
traveling where they might.
Just let em go land on
some other hapless scribe
recording for posterity what another writer might.

There are innumerable combinations
of letters and symbols
for humanity’s communications,
so there may never be an end.
But fashion forward or fashion not
from writers’ minds they’ll continue to rend.

© Joel Tipple

My Father’s House

DSCN1024

1) “Do not let your heart be troubled; believe in God, believe also in Me. 2) “In My Father’s house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you. 3) “If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also. John 14:1-3 (NASB)

My dad has been in an assisted living facility for some time now. When the house that he raised us in sold, it was difficult for him. After all, he and my mother had it built in 1968, and I know he figured it would be the last place he lived in. He also didn’t plan on my mother passing away before he did. Both of these circumstances were, and continue to be, hard for him to deal with. Like most of us, I guess, he doesn’t know how long he’ll live, and the idea of being alone, or not having a home to call his own, is unsettling. Uncertainty seems to be part and parcel of life on earth. So what is certain? What about our forever home? Jesus tells us to trust Him. He has prepared a place for us with Him for eternity. Though we’re given some clues, we don’t exactly know what it will be like. I am certain, though, that it will be more wonderful than our most vivid imaginings.

Absent from this earth,
together with the Lord,
Our concepts seem so small.
Stories about clouds and harps
aren’t so helpful at all.
Misconceptions about doing nothing
do exactly that much to excite.

An eternal worship service?
What of those who can’t sing?
Oh, I know, those limitations are misplaced.
Besides, are music critics redeemed?
If you’ve been in love,
and who hasn’t?
Multiply that by one thousand.
I’m guessing it’s that massive.

© Joel Tipple

(NASB) – New American Standard NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE Copyright (C) 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977,1995 by THE LOCKMAN FOUNDATION A Corporation Not for Profit LA HABRA, CA All Rights Reserved http://www.lockman.org

Image

White Flowers

Bring me white flowers,
alive and brimming with light.
Set them before my door,
just at railing’s height.
Let them glow in the evening,
and be first up at dawn,
sustenance to my sight,
or nourishment for a fawn.

© Joel Tipple

Adopted

DSCN0845

3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ,
4 just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him. In love 5 He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will. Ephesians 1:3-5 (NASB)

If you knew me
before the world’s foundation was laid
knew my foibles and faults
all the mistakes I’ve made
chose to adopt me
and call me your own
only waiting for my decision
to set my life toward that home
If you still called me
knowing all that you did
even when I foolishly
tried to hide my sin
If you knew that even after
I asked forgiveness and joined this life
that sometimes I’d stumble and create
unnecessary strife
If you knew all that
and still gave me your name
the least I can do
is every dawn
say thank you
and start again.
© Joel Tipple

(NASB) – New American Standard NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE Copyright (C) 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977,1995 by THE LOCKMAN FOUNDATION A Corporation Not for Profit LA HABRA, CA All Rights Reserved http://www.lockman.org

Slaves of Righteousness

cropped-flowers42008-003.jpg

What then? Are we to sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means! Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness? But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed, and, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness.
Romans 6:15-18 (ESV)

Am I a slave
held in bondage?
No,
I think not.
But do my actions
support my words?
What evidence have my actions wrought?
Am I there more for my television
than for my family?
Of the myriad of vices available,
which of them defines me?
God offers two choices: sin, which leads to death,
or obedience, which leads to righteousness.
There doesn’t seem to be
a lot of area here that’s gray.
So far as I can tell,
God wants it all,
not just your first thing in the morning,
He wants all day.
© Joel Tipple

The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®)
Copyright © 2001 by Crossway,
a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.
All rights reserved.
ESV Text Edition: 2011